The receiver for a North Carolina company which officials say operated a $600 million Ponzi scheme that is on the verge of collapse says as many as 2 million people may have invested in ZeekRewards.com.

A temporary receiver for Lexington-based Zeek Rewards has been set up days after the Securities and Exchange Commission shut down the popular website amid accusations that it was a $600 million Ponzi scheme.

The court-appointed receiver seeking to reimburse victims of the massive Zeek Rewards pyramid scheme has tracked down hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and warns people who profited in the scheme that he will seek to retrieve their gains.

The receiver, attorney Kenneth Bell of Charlotte, recently posted a letter on the receivership website updating his investigation into the pyramid scheme, which was based in Lexington, that involved more than 1 million people worldwide and at least $600 million. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seized the assets of Zeek Rewards, which billed itself as an online multilevel marketing business but was instead what federal authorities called a “Ponzi scheme on the verge of collapse.”

Bell reports that the receiver recovered nearly $300 million in assets.

“There may be tens of millions of dollars more of recoverable assets,” Bell indicates on the website www.ZeekRewardsReceivership.com.

But Bell indicates that any reimbursement to former Zeek Rewards affiliates will take months, if not longer.

“While many of you are understandably anxious to begin the claims process, we simply can’t do that until we are reasonably certain we have recovered all assets from which victims can be compensated,” Bell writes.

The receiver said he will seek to recover money from investors who got in and out of Zeek Rewards before it became publicly known that the supposed business was a pyramid scheme.

“Among those from whom we intend to recover assets are those affiliates who took more out ... than they put in,” Bell indicates. “Many of you received little or nothing from this enterprise. In order to make everyone as whole as possible, those who profited from participating should surrender their gains.”

Paul Burks of Lexington, who operated Zeek Rewards and its parent company, Rex Venture Group, was charged with fraud by the SEC and agreed to cooperate with authorities on recovering assets.

Meanwhile, the receiver is warning people already duped by Zeek Rewards that other attempts at deception are occurring.

“Finally, I read in many e-mails and web postings that some affiliates claim to have spoken to me or the SEC,” Bell writes. “False information is being circulated by these claimants. I have not spoken to any of those claiming to have done so. I will communicate with you through this web site (www.ZeekRewardsReceivership.com).